Thu, 05.06.2025
10:00–14:00
Seminar
Muzeum Warszawy
free admission
City Debate. The Museum Closer to the Public
We invite all those creating cultural institutions to a seminar with the participation of guests from Manchester Art Gallery and the Museum of London.
During the seminar, we will discuss how individual museums develop narratives about their cities, how the process of arriving at specific stories unfolds, and topics such as:
- listening to audience needs when planning museum programs,
- connecting work with collections and work with audiences,
- museum projects carried out with and for the community,
- differences in building narratives in collection-based exhibitions and exhibitions without objects.
We have invited representatives from the Manchester Art Gallery, the Museum of London, and the Poznań Heritage Center to participate. We will hear, among other things, about how the team at the Museum of Warsaw is working on making the Things of Warsaw exhibition more community-oriented, and how the Manchester Art Gallery is re-evaluating its collection with public involvement. We will also learn how the Gate of Poznań tells the story of the city and its heritage, and about the Museum of London’s extensive experience in community engagement.
The event will be interpreted simultaneously from Polish to English and from English to Polish.
Registration: forms.office.com/e/jg1tJ3gbAn
Agenda:
9:30 a.m. – Registration
10:00 a.m. – Opening of the seminar
10:30 a.m. – What do a turtle, a giraffe, and a joker have in common with the Museum of Warsaw? How we developed a narrative that resonates with our audience, Wanda Kaczor and Monika Michałek (Museum of Warsaw)
11:30 a.m. – Taking Stock of Taking Stock: collections, audiences and purpose for Manchester City’s art collection, Inbal Livne and Hanna Williamson (Manchester Art Gallery) Learn more about the Taking Stock project: youtu.be
12:15 a.m. – Coffee break
12:45 p.m. – What lies beneath the surface of grand history? On the work behind the new main exhibition at the Gate of Poznań, Anna Pikuła and Olga Tarczyńska-Polus (Poznań Heritage Centre)
13:15 p.m. – Identifying community engagement and representation opportunities when developing interpretation at London Museum, Vandana Patel and Claire Mead (Museum of London)
14:00 p.m. – Lunch
Wanda Kaczor is a curator in the Department of Warsaw History Research and Collections. She has been working at the Museum of Warsaw for four years, developing public programmes and exhibitions. She is also the coordinator of the City Debate project.
Monika Michałek – is a member of the Education Department at the Museum of Warsaw, an educator and licensed city guide with many years of experience, and a certified interpretive guide with the Interpret Europe network. Professionally, she focuses on education for both children and adults, exploring engaging and alternative ways of storytelling and working with narrative.
Inbal Livne is Senior Creative Lead at Manchester Art Gallery, leading on curation, exhibitions, public programming and visitor engagement. Inbal has a background in non-European art and material culture, and has spent over 20 years working in museums and heritage organisations. MAG is her first art gallery.
Hannah Williamson is a Fine Art Curator at Manchester Art Gallery, where she’s worked for 14 years. She’s also working part-time on her PhD with Manchester Metropolitan University, researching the life and work of one of her predecessors, Bertha Hindshaw, the Curator of the Manchester Art Museum in the early twentieth century.
Anna Pikuła is a Head of the Exhibitions Team at the Poznań Heritage Center. She has produced numerous temporary exhibitions at the Śluza Gallery and is a member of the teams responsible for the permanent exhibitions at the Gate of Poznań and the Enigma Codebreakers Center. In her work, she draws on the concept of heritage interpretation.
Olga Tarczyńska-Polus is an Exhibition Specialist at the Poznań Heritage Center. Co-curator and coordinator of temporary exhibitions at the Śluza Gallery, and a member of the team working on the modernization of the main exhibition at the Gate of Poznań.
Vandana Patel is an interpretation specialist. She has worked in a wide range of cultural settings from contemporary art and craft galleries, to archives and museums. Previous roles include developing community led exhibitions at the Royal Geographical Society, and working on international museum developments (UAE) as a British Museum consultant. She joined the London Museum six years ago and works on the development of several new galleries due to open in 2026. She is a founding member of Museum Detox, a network for people of colour working in the UK’s cultural sector.
Claire Mead is an Engagement Manager at London Museum, where she has been leading on a number of projects relating to collections engagement as well as consultation and content development for the new London Museum displays at West Smithfield.
Project City Debate is supported by the British Council under the UK/Poland Season 2025.
Education partner of the Museum of Warsaw – PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A.
